Carlos Viegas

Study on Sleepiness and Drivers' Attention in Urban Transport Carlos Viegas

It is a descriptive transversal study of a professional-drivers sample from Brasilia and Florianopolis, which aimed to describe daytime sleepiness and quantify the level of attention of this population. The following tools were used: Sleep Questionnaire, Epworth Scale, Diffused Attention Test (TADIM), and Concentrated Attention Test (TACOM-A). Of the 404 drivers tested, 300 were from Brasilia. It was observed that Brasilia drivers' neck circumference was smaller (p = 0.02). Relatively, more drivers from Brasilia showed excessive sleepiness in the Epworth Scale (p = 0.0001). As to TACOM-A, the same drivers presented significantly less concentrated attention than the ones from Florianopolis (p = 0.0001). From all the variables, there was no correlation between the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, the age and the attention tests. The study pointed out a great number of sleepy and distracted drivers. Among the anthropometric variables, only the neck circumference stood out as statistically divergent, but such a difference has no clinic relevance. In addition, there were significant statistical differences in excessive daytime sleepiness and concentrated attention among the evaluated drivers.